Now that IBM has sold its Intel-based server business to Lenovo, Big Blue is taking the gloves off and trying to take business from the chip giant by positioning its Power8 processors as a more open option.

With the next major spin of Intel server CPUs due later this year, HP’s customers have been waiting for HP’s next iteration of its core c-Class BladeSystem -- on the market for almost 7 years without any major changes to its basic architecture.

Intel has released a statement claiming that the 'packet of death' problem affecting its 82574L Ethernet controller is not a design problem but instead a problem confined to hardware manufactured by a single -- but as yet unnamed -- manufacturer.

Sending a specially crafted packet to an Intel 82574L Ethernet controller can cause the hardware to hang, and the 'packet of death' could be put to malicious use and crash systems even when protected by a firewall.